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107
It may be noted, as a matter of interest, that the toddlers do patronise
the Council's two diphtheria prevention clinics and no increase in clinics
is required, but much more could have been done in this direction had
the Council decided to take action upon the report submitted to it in 1935.
(Minutes, 1934-5, page 391).
Paragraph 7 in the circular, although not at the moment applicable to
London contains material to give food for thought. It seems to give
a direct encouragement to the transfer of powers under the Maternity
and Child Welfare Act to the Local Education Authority where the latter
are not also the Maternity and Child Welfare Authority. If deemed
advisable that such a course should be pursued in London a short section
in a future L.C.C. (General Powers) Act would be followed by the Borough
Council being obliged to hand over its entire welfare scheme to the administration
of the London County Council. A procedure on such lines would no
doubt be followed by uniformity in the Metropolis, but if centrally administered
in its entirety the close touch so necessary in work of this nature would
tend to become buried under the avalanche of reports and the suppression
of local initiative inseparable from a central detailed administration.
If the County Council were content with the central matters of policy
and delegated the detail of administration to Local Authorities, then
some form of order might well appear in the confusion of powers and
responsibilities which now exists, not only in Maternity and Child Welfare
and in the other aspects of public health as between the County Council
and the Borough Council, but also in the different degrees to which
individual Borough Councils exercise their powers and the different means
adopted for their administration.
A. G. G. Thompson, m.d.,
Medical Officer of Health.
7th September, 1936.
We have considered the Ministry's circular in the light of the
information given by the Medical Officer of Health and agree, in
principle, with the suggestions made by the Minister for improving
the supervision of the health and welfare of toddlers, and it is
hoped that the Council will see its way in due course to give full
effect thereto.
We have requested the Medical Officer to get in touch with the
voluntary hospitals and, where necessary, with school clinics,
with a view to his submitting to us in due course proposals whereby
the welfare centres may be enabled more closely to co-operate with
and to make greater use of the facilities provided by such
institutions for the treatment of minor ailments and for dentistry.
We have also appointed a sub-committee to consider the question
of investigating proposals for the establishment of three additional
day nurseries, one in each of the North Lambeth, Brixton and
Norwood Parliamentary Divisions of the Borough. The Council is,
of course, aware that the Cynthia Mosley Day Nursery is already
functioning in the Kennington Division. To this sub-committee
we have also referred for consideration and report to us the